At the most recent Zhuhai air show, the premier event for China’s aviation industry, crowds swarmed around a model of an armed, jet-propelled drone and marveled at the accompanying display of its purported martial prowess.

In a video and map, the thin, sleek drone locates what appears to be a U.S. aircraft carrier group near an island with a striking resemblance to Taiwan and sends targeting information back to shore, triggering a devastating barrage of cruise missiles toward the formation of ships.

In an era of rapid technological innovation, there is no safety in the assertion that American defense spending is greater than the total of X other countries. It needs to be sufficient to maintain the world’s dominant military even in an era of asymmetrical threat, especially when it is the one component of national power not compromised by profligate domestic entitlement spending.